Descendants of Holocaust Refugees Face Maze of Discriminatory and Arbitrary Requirements in Reclaiming German Citizenship

DESCENDANTS OF HOLOCAUST REFUGEES

FACE MAZE OF DISCRIMINATORY AND

ARBITRARY REQUIREMENTS IN RECLAIMING

GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

CAMERON B. WOLFE*

Reports of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and the United

Kingdom have dramatically increased in recent years. According to data

released by the Anti-Defamation League, more anti-Semitic incidents were

reported in the United States last year than in any year since the Anti-

Defamation League began tracking such incidents.

1

In New York City, home

to one of America’s largest Jewish populations, more than half of the hate

crimes last year were attacks on Jewish people.

2

The spread of COVID-19

and the strict lockdowns that have followed in much of the western world

have led to an even greater surge of religious bigotry.

3

According to an an-

nual report on global anti-Semitism by the Kantor Center for the Study of

Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, in the months since

March 2020, there has been a dramatic increase of accusations against Jews,

Zionists, and Israelis, as individuals and as a collective, “for causing and

spreading the coronavirus.”

4

The U.K.-based Community Security Trust reported that from January to

June 2020, the United Kingdom experienced an “explosion” of online anti-

Semitic hate incidents.

5

These incidents largely involved the promotion of

conspiracy theories accusing Jews of developing the COVID-19 virus and

purposely spreading it to non-Jews.

6

Meanwhile, in the United States, the

FBI reported that, since March 2020, neo-Nazi and white supremacist organi-

zations have devoted considerable online resources to promoting a similar

* Cameron Wolfe, J.D. Candidate, 2022, Georgetown University Law Center; B.A. Politics, 2016,

Brandeis University. © 2021, Cameron Wolfe.

1. Johnny Diaz, Anti-Semitic Incidents Surged in 2019, Report Says, N EW YORK TIMES (May. 12,

2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/us/antisemitic-report-incidents.html.

2. Liam Stack, Most Visible Jews Fear Being Targets as Anti-Semitism Rises, N.Y. TIMES (Feb. 17,

2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/nyregion/hasidic-jewish-attacks.html.

3. Amy Woodyatt, Coronavirus Lockdowns are Fueling an ’Explosion’ of Anti-Semitism Online,

CNN (Jul. 30, 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/uk/online-anti-semitism-intl-scli-gbr/index.html.

4. Daniel Estrin, New Report Notes Rise In Coronavirus-Linked Anti-Semitic Hate Speech, NPR

(Apr. 21, 2020), https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/21/839748857/new-

report-notes-rise-in-coronavirus-linked-anti-semitic-hate-speech.

5. Woodyatt, supra note 3.

6. Id.

695